Music
music on the Nitrome.com website.]] Most of the music heard in Nitrome games falls under the genre of chiptune or electronic music. Composer history The first composer for an official game released on the Nitrome.com website was Lee Nicklen for Hot Air. Nicklen was originally commissioned to create four tracks for the game, but only two were in the initial release to maintain a lower file size. Lee Nicklen served as the main composer from 2006 to 2008, of which Dave Cowen started composing tracks for certain Nitrome games for the later half of 2008 beginning with Snot Put. Cowen and Nicklen continued to compose for all of Nitrome's releases up until 2010, where Nicklen stopped creating new music for Nitrome, his last work of that time being Worm Food. Since 2010, Dave Cowen has composed the majority of music for all Nitrome games. Lee Nicklen stopped creating new music for Nitrome after 2010, though his previously composed works were reused in followups to certain games such as Skywire's original tracks in the Skywire V.I.P. games and both Cheese Dreams tracks showing up in Cheese Dreams: New Moon. He set up a Facebook page called "NitromeMusic" on September 22, 2011 to promote the Nitrome section of his Kayotix website. Nicklen began posting remasters, along with unused tracks, of previously released Nitrome games, including the two tracks composed for Fluffball (a game that was unreleased at the time). Nitrome announced in January 2014 that Lee Nicklen would make music for their upcoming swapping game changeType(). This would be the last time Lee Nicklen would produce work for a Nitrome game. On March 5, 2015, Nitrome released a remastered version of Fluffball, an older Nitrome game that was once only accessible on Miniclip that Nicklen composed for back in 2007. Other composers Although Lee Nicklen and Dave Cowen have created the soundtracks for the majority of Nitrome games, a few other composers have also contributed tracks for some releases: *Gift Wrapped, released in 2006, is credited to "Q Music". *Music from Shockwave-Sound.com has been used in the Magic Touch series as well as Go Go UFO. *William Bard took up a public offer to create music for Mat Annal and Arthur Guibert's team during the Nitrome Jam. The game, 8bit Doves, was later expanded into a post-jam mobile game that included two additional tracks. The endless spin-off, Endless Doves, also features the track originally composed for the Jam. *Eirik Suhrke first announced on his Twitter that he was wrapping up the music for an upcoming project by Nitrome in 2014. The project was Gunbrick (mobile), which was not released until the end of 2015. Suhrke also composed music for Platform Panic (released before Gunbrick (mobile)) and Gopogo, which was released at the end of 2015. Track types Most Nitrome games have two background tracks each: one for the menu (also known as "title") screens, and one that plays throughout the game itself. Some games, such as Hot Air 2 and Skywire 2, introduced an additional track that would play whenever a boss was fought. This was not consistent, particularly with many of their early releases, where boss areas could still retain the in-game theme, for instance, Aquanaut and Frost Bite 2. For smaller scale and icon games, one track was typically used for both the menu and game. All background tracks loop. Pest Control was the earliest Nitrome game to use fanfares for completing or losing a level. A short clip of music would play in such instances, often interrupting the background music. Fanfares are also used in most Nitrome Enjoyment System games along with the Trap series and Bad Ice-Cream series. Typically, they are used in games with longer scale levels. The title track can also serve as the in-game music in a game with selectable levels. The levels, in such cases, will have a level with an exclusively in-game track, followed by a level with the same music as heard in the title screen. Examples of this include Fat Cat, Canary and Droplets. A similar instance of this also occurs in Chisel 2, where an additional in-game track alternates with the in-game track heard in the first game. Large scale releases, especially in mobile games, may include multiple tracks for different areas. Along with cutscene, menu and boss themes, Gunbrick (mobile) has three tracks per pack, with each track alternating in an ordered sequence within their pack until a boss is encountered. Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage has separate tracks for the titlescreen and the map screen and also uses tracks specific to each of its packs that are then dispersed in levels found in later packs. FX Effects, also known as FX, is not a type of music, but the sound played when certain things are done. The most recurring effect is the Nitrome Jingle, played at the end of a startup, both appearing in every single Nitrome game. There have been several FX's made for Nitrome games. The second most used effect was a sped up version of the Nitrome Jingle, which was first used when point related objects were picked up. It was first used for the sound made when the yellow stars from the Hot Air series was picked up. The sound was later replaced with a different effect. While some FX's are reused throughout other games, others are used only once. Typically, an option to toggle the sound effects is placed next to the "music off" button. Cover art Tracks available to purchase on the Nitrome shop have cover art to accompany the music. It is a screenshot from the specific game with an overlay of the game's name and composer on the top of the cover art. Below is a gallery of these music covers, in order of release date. Gallery Twin Shot 2 Music Cover.png|Twin Shot 2 music cover Rustyard Music Cover.png|Rustyard music cover Toxic 2 music cover.png|Toxic 2 music cover Space Hopper music cover.png|Space Hopper music cover Mutiny music cover.png|Mutiny music cover Onekey music cover.png|Onekey music cover Magneboy music cover.png|Magneboy music cover In the Dog House music cover.png|In the Dog House music cover Bomba music cover.png|Bomba music cover Castle Corp music cover.png|Castle Corp music cover Skywire 2 music cover.png|Skywire 2 music cover Twang music cover.png|Twang music cover Tiny Castle music cover.png|Tiny Castle music cover Small Fry music cover.png|Small Fry music cover Final Ninja Zero music cover.png|Final Ninja Zero music cover Knuckleheads music cover.png|Knuckleheads music cover Double Edged music cover.png|Double Edged music cover Cave Chaos music cover.png|Cave Chaos music cover Blast RPG music cover.png|Blast RPG music cover Avalanche music cover.png|Avalanche music cover Tanked Up music cover.png|Tanked Up music cover Snow Drift music cover.png|Snow Drift music cover Flipside music cover.png|Flipside music cover Flash Cat music cover.png|Flash Cat music cover Ice Breaker music cover.png|Ice Breaker music cover Hot Air music cover.png|Hot Air music cover Parasite music cover.png|Parasite music cover Fault Line music cover.png|Fault Line music cover Droplets music cover.png|Droplets music cover Bullethead music cover.png|Bullethead music cover Twin Shot music cover.png|Twin Shot music cover Skywire music cover.png|Skywire music cover Rubble Trouble New York music cover.png|Rubble Trouble New York music cover Toxic music cover.png|Toxic music cover Pixel Pop music cover.png|Pixel Pop music cover Final Ninja music cover.png|Final Ninja music cover Fat Cat music cover.png|Fat Cat music cover Feed Me music cover.png|Feed Me music cover Chisel music cover.png|Chisel music cover Cheese Dreams music cover.png|Cheese Dreams music cover List of Nitrome music available Trivia * The longest track in a Nitrome game is the titlescreen music to Feed Me, which, according to iTunes, is 3 minutes and 54 seconds long. * The shortest track of music in a Nitrome game is the start screen music for Leap Day, lasting for a duration of twenty-three seconds (0:23). * In Pixel Pop, all 3 tracks are exactly one minute and twenty-nine seconds (1:29). * The music for Hot Air 2: All Blown Up on Nitrome.com was completely different then the music on Miniclip. 3 tracks completely different than the Nitrome.com music for Hot Air 2 were made and released only in the Miniclip version of the game for unknown reasons. * Orange nose enemy from Jack Frost has hands in the ad for music section of the shop. References External links *Kayotix--Lee Nicklen's website *Stereoplayground--Dave Cowen's website Category:Game components